Stray
by Delan Cross
Summary: Voldemort dead, things were supposed to look up but life was not done with him yet. In fact it had only just begun as all the trials until then were just preparation to join his rightful time. On the up side of things he no longer lives at the Dursley's residence. On the down side he is now stuck penniless and de-aged in an orphanage together with Tom Riddle. Oh, and it's 1935.


**Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Harry Potter Universe.**

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**Summary: **Harry lands himself in another impossibility. Voldemort dead, things were supposed to look up but life was not done with him yet. In fact it had only just begun as all the trials until then were just preparation to join his rightful time.

On the up side of things he no longer lives at the Dursley's residence. On the down side he is now stuck penniless and de-aged in an orphanage together with Tom Riddle. Oh, and it's 1935.

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**Warnings:** time travel, yaoi(boyxboy),underage lemon, death, war

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**1. Chapter: Howl**

Harry distinctively remembered the first time Dumbledore took him to visit the first of the many memories showing Tom Riddle before he renamed himself.

Before the horcruxes, before the mass-murder, before Hogwarts and to his surprise Harry found himself faced with a boy much like he was once. Had he never spent that year with his parents, had he never been enveloped in his mothers love maybe he, Harry, himself would have ended up hating the world and the people in it. It was a scary thought that the main difference between Tom and Harry lied in their mothers strengths and not in themselves. Had Lily been weaker would Harry ended up similar to Tom?

Despite many assurances of Toms guilt and depravity Harry found himself doubting Dumbledore for the first time in his life. He found himself mistrusting the headmaster.

Because as already established, despite Dumbledore's numerous assurances that he saw a grandchild in Harry, he _knew _that was not the case. No grandfather would have left Harry with people like the Dursley's. Even if it was for the Greater Good for him to be there Dumbledore could have easily improved his situation just as he could have done for Tom. He _decided_ not to. He _wanted _Harry to suffer for whatever sick reasons.

And if Tom Riddle had been so dark back then why did Dumbledore not act? Harry knew from experience that the headmaster did not particularly care for authority or the ministry so it wouldn't have weighted down his consciousness to take Riddle to a back alley somewhere and off him.

His thoughts in turmoil Harry couldn't stop them even as he lied awake in his four-poster bed remembering he memory. Specifically the display of power Dumbledore used to impress Tom. The flame-freezing charm nearly made him overlook another important aspect of that memory. The stolen goods.

How could Dumbledore have known that Tom Riddle collected little trinkets from his victims? There was no charm that can find stolen belongings Harry knew of especially not the flame-freezing spell. And that led to another disturbing discovery. Albus Dumbledore had used ligilimency on a minor without consent or reasonable suspicions.

What would have stopped him from doing the same to Harry? Nothing.

Harry picked up his mind magics studies afterwards but without proper instruction the best was not good enough. He simply resolved to avoid looking into the headmaster's eyes as much as possible without raising suspicion. Snape too, for that matter.

But what could Harry otherwise realistically do at that point in time? It was already much too late to help himself never mind others. So he continued playing by Dumbledore's script waiting for the right chance to break free. If there was one thing he had been forced to learn in spades it was patience. After all his whole life at the Dursley's was a single wait-and-see game.

He had continued on and finished that the two nemesis had started. Harry finished Dumbledore's war and was finally free to enjoy life.

The only problem at that point was that he had no idea how to go about it.

Harry started asking questions and searched for people to provide him with answers. The most important teacher of his life turned out to be none other than Andromeda Black.

It all started with a Gringotts letter on his table inviting him or rather demanding his presence at his manager's office. It was rather surprising really as he had had no idea he had a manager up until that moment in time. So after the dead were buried and the trials finally over, Harry found himself making his way towards the bank.

Thankfully, the ministry has pacified the goblins so no problems occurred on that front. Despite the harsher sneers sent in his direction by every goblin present, Harry discovered himself being far from frightened or cowed, the war leaving a mark on him and his scare tolerance level. A goblin while unpleasant company was not dangerous to his person as they were in need of his assets and business deals. Not to mention the wizarding public would crucify them if they somehow harmed the Man-Who-Conquered.

Really, every time he turned around the nicknames and monikers got stupider and often times longer. At least he was now called a man and was no longer lauded for the simple fact of living.

That afternoon brought many discoveries and responsibilities Harry had not foreseen receiving, such as two lordships, millions of galleons and a godson. The latest of the three led Harry to Andromeda Blacks house straight afterwards.

The Andromeda Black from his memories was an energetic if older woman with a great many laugh lines on her face. The woman who opened the door was clad in a widows black colour, red-rimmed eyes and a baby in her hands. After an initial confrontation, which involved her loudly declaring that her grandson was not going anywhere, they settled down for tea.

As much as Harry liked the idea of only being responsible for spoiling Teddy rotten, he could see the toll it was taking on Andromeda so after a lot of arguing and shouting he hired her in the position of his personal assistant and both moved in with him at Edinburrow Estate.

While Harry had hired her to manage him, giving her new purpose and chance to actively partake in her grandson's life, he himself had just thought it a good idea not expecting much at all; he had the money to spend after all.

He was soon proved wrong.

Andromeda Black had turned out to be a verified and retired solicitor once upon a time and the woman who by wizarding standards was still in the prime of her life made sure to earn her bread.

Andromeda turned his life completely upside down. When he suddenly found himself with an inheritance in the millions and two lordship rings on his fingers she coached him in financial management, set up lessons to teach him in pureblood etiquette and had him outfitted as befitting someone in his station. Even cursed dance lessons made it on that list.

After a long discussion they decided that Harry would not return to Hogwarts after the summer holidays and would complete his newts by home study in order to stay near Teddy and accommodate his other lessons, which seemed to multiply by the day as his gaps in knowledge became more and more apparent. He also had problems with the control of his magic, which had exponentially increased since the day he died', without the need to hold a horcrux imprisoned and apart from his soul anymore.

By this point in time Harry had seriously considered rebelling as he was worked to an inch of his life but as he didn't see a chance in hell of success with the stern woman in charge, he grit his teeth and quickly and quietly capitulated.

Andromeda taught him how to manage his many estates from the Potters and the Blacks where he needed to hire either servants or house elves to uphold them and so on. They moved a lot to inspect each of them and enjoyed the perspective countries. For Harry who had never left England's borders for his enjoyment before it was a whole new experience.

One incredibly miserable day she made him do a health check-up and raved about his state. Who knew he had so many unresolved issues? A considerable sum made sure his eyesight returned to top condition, while a personal coach and a strict potions regimen and a little help from magic made sure he found himself getting healthier, stronger and _taller_. He had lost a few tears over the last one.

In-between Andromeda arranged everything for the Order of Merlin ceremony, managed his press and made some time for him to spend with the Weasley's and his girlfriend.

In short Andromeda became his best teacher as she taught him about the way to manage his own life. And in that unlike most else he knew she wasn't shy of teaching him about the darker side of things. She couldn't stop stressing how important it was for a lord of one not to even mention two houses to know of each side. Especially since he was lord of a light and a reputably dark house.

He got taught how to gather Intel on any- and everybody to protect himself with it like armour. The Black family even had a book with a lot of information to blackmail, bribe or convince whoever stood in its way. In that context Andy even began his years long occlumency and ligilimency training to give him an easy way to gather secrets and protect his own in return. It didn't come as a surprise to find out that Snape did more bad than any good with his 'teachings'. The man have may been a spy and thus they were on the same side but he also undisputedly had hated Harry. Harry in return saw no reason to not return the sentiment.

Andy refused to neglect his schooling in any way. Like a demon she overturned his ingrained habits. History tutoring was arranged, potions lessons for fine-tuning arranged, books regimen prescribed. He still remembered the time the woman completely traumatized him by taking him to France's black market. Knockturn Alley had nothing on it.

Andromeda was the reason he didn't sink into depression when Ginny after leaving school had demanded for him to settle down and leave Teddy to be raised by Andromeda. She didn't say like that but she essentially demanded for him to dump Teddy off. Worse Harry could see Andy thought he would do it too. Apparently she wasn't ready to become a mother just yet so after two month of quarrelling Harry broke it off. No matter what she said, Teddy came first.

Subsequently instead of stuffing him full with food full of anti-depressant potions Andy loaded him in work and books dragging him kicking and screaming to the NEWTs he wrote a full three years later than anticipated. She didn't know but he had seen her cry a little after he had informed her of his decision to stay with Teddy.

It turned to be a blessing in disguise in the end. The door after Ginny closed but a window opened up. The break-up gave Harry the chance to concentrate on himself thus discovering his bisexuality in the process. He never found someone he wanted to settle with for life but he did make a lot of beautiful and precious memories with them.

Harry matured and got comfortable in his own skin.

He travelled with his little family a lot to the ancient cities and gravesites of old civilizations like Egypt, Greece, Italia and time just flew by. Before he knew it they had all settled down in a cottage by the sea, celebrating Teddies admission into Hogwarts.

That decade was full of freedom and happiness. He ignored England and other people's problems; he ignored the whole world outside his small circle of important people. Twenty-eight years and still going it became apparent to Harry that he wasn't aging.

**_/ 1 /_**

Harry knew no one else had noticed yet, not even Andromeda since no one was expecting anything like it they weren't looking for it either. Besides, it was easy to overlook thus why it took Harry himself so long to find out. Aging implied people changing and he was hardly recognisable as the same boy of seventeen most still looked for when searching him out.

He had come into his own.

Alone the vacancy of his glasses and hideous clothing was enough to make many second guess his name. The health treatment he had undergone at Andromeda's insistence proved helpful. He had filled out at all the right places, grown to a respectable high of 5'9 and his training regimen led to the development of quite a few muscles. He wasn't model material but he looked good and no longer so terribly scrawny. He also wasn't fleeing at sight of medical potions anymore. If this was the result it ought to be worth it to swallow some disgusting potions.

His trademark scar was nearly gone, it was so feint since the removal of the horcrux, leading to a burst of magical power that signifies age for wizards and witches. And his untameable potter-hair wasn't so untameable with a charmed stud in his left ear.

All around no one who didn't directly know him would be able to recognise him and those who did saw him changing thus aging and didn't look too far into the circumstances behind the missing wrinkles on his face.

Nevertheless Haydn knew that one day it would become noticeable. He had ten more years at most until people began asking questions and with Hermione around it shrunk the time down to something like five more years.

Harry was honestly unconcerned as long as it only concerned himself. He was the most powerful wizard alive after all and if he was master of the hallows it was speculative _if_ he could even die. No but those he was worried about were all very much mortal and weaker than himself and he couldn't guarantee their safety once it got found out.

He hoped of course that the wizarding world would take it well, after all Flammel got into the six hundred digits' before he died. But he wouldn't count on it.

The wizarding world had turned their back on him one too many times for him to feel even remotely trustful towards them especially since he had distanced himself from the public during the last decade and he knew there was some talk going around in certain circles about him going dark. Really, they all thought they were being so secretive. Amateurs.

No, if it ever came out Andromeda and Teddy would be in most danger, followed directly by his closest friends; Luna, Neville, George, Ron, Hermione and their partners and children. Those were the ones who would suffer if the truth ever came out.

As it turns out he needn't have worried. Less than a year later all but Luna died from a new evolved epidemic that mainly targeted those in their prime, leaving witches and wizards much too old and much too young to deal with the mess. The plague affected everyone with a magical core and the agent developed to counteract it was much too late.

Harry was left with only Luna and a sickly Teddy, and those two only because he sacrificed himself by supplying them with his magic, completely depleting his core. He woke up the next morning with his head in Luna's bosom smiling bittersweet.

For the first time he truly asked himself how he would survive and stay sane, for centuries, all alone.

**_/ 1 /_**

Harry watched the flames in his chimney dispassionately as he lifted the glass with fire whisky anew taking a deep gulp.

"Harry."

Harry slowly turned his head in the direction the musical voice was coming from, watching as Luna slowly made her way towards him and let herself down in the armchair opposite of his.

"Luna." he acknowledged.

It did him some good to see her as a feeling of tenderness broke through his numb mind. Had things been differently she would have been the one Harry thought. If only things had been different…

"But they are." And only then did Harry realise he had spoken that out loud. Not that it mattered. Maybe it needed to be said.

"Steven was it? And Maurice before that. You have never managed to settle down."

"They simply weren't it."

Luna hummed thoughtfully joining him in flame watching. It was hypnotising and calming, no wonder many used it to start the occlumency process. His mind was wonderfully blank.

"You will find them whoever it may be you know. You won't stay alone."

Luna tore her eyes away from the flames and looked into his eyes steadily, with her normally dreamy features unusually focused, making Harry immediately snap to attention.

"Truly?"

Luna returned to her dreamy state, smiling beautifully. "Yes. You should take it when it's offered. Don't worry about us. Teddy and I will be happy and we will all meet again I'm sure."

It was disquieting that Luna apparently saw him finding his love away from them, which he had no intention of doing. But Luna never said anything without reason and she never led him wrong.

Both quietly returned to watching the flames, their minds wonderfully blank. After all, whatever decision Luna was talking about, she had also said that all would be right in the end. There was no reason to worry about the uncertain future in that case.

**_/ 1 /_**

Harry looked around and took quick stock of his situation. He had neither weapon nor wand on him, no idea of place, time or reason for abduction; nor their demands. He did not like this lack of information as he didn't even know who would be suicidal enough to try again after the many attempts he had thwarted.

The place he found himself in was white. That was all it could be described as. It was all pure white and he couldn't make out floor from ceiling if he tried neither did the place seem to possess a door or have someone else trapped inside.

Just as the thought had crossed his mind a small round table with two garden chairs on either side appeared out of nowhere with one of the chairs already occupied. The occupant was a woman with long blond hair, clad in-what else?-white.

On second though why wasn't he already blind from all that white? While the colour was annoying and uncomfortably reminded him of the hospital wing, it wasn't bright and didn't sting in his eyes. The colour seemed murky if asked to describe. Not that that was particularly important right then.

"Who are you?"

The woman smiled, seemingly amused.

"I would be some humans call fate and curse to high heaven whenever in trouble. You are a good example Harry. But since we are in polite company I would like it if you would call me Fortuna, as it is my chosen name."

Harry was stunned, partly because he was just indirectly accused of cursing this woman apparently in her mind without good cause. Or that he at the very least should be ashamed of such. But not surprised per se since such shit was in the habit of happening to him and it really wasn't that unusual for his life. No one survives the killing curse? He does. No one had seen a basilisk on Britain's shores in the last four hundred years? He had to kill one in his second year. No one meets the goddess of fate? He meets her without even trying to.

As the silence stretched and Fortuna continued to sip her tea amicably Harry just gave a resigned sigh. He might as well go along with whatever this was as he had no means to escape and only his wandless magic as a weapon. Somehow he doubted that would be enough to go against a goddess. Not that he would hesitate to try should she prove dangerous to him or his family.

"What can I do for you then Fortuna? And no, that doesn't imply I want to."

Fortuna actually snorted and invited him to sit, a teakettle pouring him tea without invitation. Harry saw no reason to decline the hospitality.

"It isn't so much a question of what I want to what I can offer you. You see as wise and old as I am, I am not used to making mistakes. Especially ones that send enraged death gods after my hide. I assure you it is only fun to watch from a distance.

When I planned out your life you were supposed to simply finish off Voldemort if possible and go on to live an easy, happy life married to Ginny Weasley. That, unfortunately, did not come to pass. You not only acquired the hollows like some before you, no you actually managed to take master ship over them, an unprecedented and unplanned event. I was actually under requirement to never involve that in my schemes.

But you acquired them and that led to numerous other unplanned for events. The soonest of them being your slight personality change. You actually grew a backbone due to the Elder wand giving you security and fixing you mentally. That led to you fighting Andromeda on her adoption plans, leading to your break up with Ginny, discovery of your bisexuality, no marriage, no children.

Basically you threw all my work out the window in concern to you and all those your decisions influenced. Congratulations. You're free of my webs as part of your new powers. Now you can only blame everything on yourself.

But you see the problem with mistakes of that magnitude is that I am actually required to correct them or at the very least make up for them.

After subjecting someone to a life as hard as yours and you actually making it out alive I am required to give you an equal share of happiness otherwise… well nothing good happens. But you were free of my web, had suddenly control over a power as powerful as death and still mostly unhappy after the one decade of happiness.

It would have been fine at least on my side of things if you continued to live some thirty years longer in that state of bliss but the epidemic happened, something that was supposed to happen long after your death! So you lost your loved ones and suddenly I was even more your debt! It is like a vicious circle!"

Harry quirked an unimpressed eyebrow at her.

"As enlightening as that is what happens then? And why was the plague supposed to happen after my death? How could me becoming master of death affect it?"

"Oh, that wasn't natural. A wizard with a grudge invented the virus otherwise it never would have affected wizards and witches so thoroughly. You all have magic and that keeps most maladies at bay. That is why you never needed injections."

She didn't even have the grace to let him process the knowledge that someone _murdered_ so many he loved. As soon as he was out of there he would hunt the bastard down. His death would be slow coming and oh so painful.

"No what I want to make you understand is that you are quite clearly unhappy and I need to change that. As I don't see that happening with the current state of events I intend to send you away so the circumstances change. Please hear me out Harry Potter.

Soon, in a few more decades, the last of your loved ones will die. Miss Lovegood and Mister Lupin especially. You will most likely experience trouble because of your immortality. Just to establish that fact one more time, you won't die. I don't know the exact circumstances, privileges and tasks of the Master of Death. I am quite sure that death himself will inform you though once he is past his screaming tantrum.

My point is that even us immortals have someone by our side to keep us happy. Our companions, spouses, partners, whatever you want to call them. _You_, have the ability to grant immortality to your chosen one. But! You can only do it so many times, so take heed who you choose. Once granted it can only be removed by you but you would have to wait centuries or even thousands of years to choose anew.

It would be a shame to meet someone like that in that time span and unable to keep them, no?"

Harry couldn't help but interrupt once again at that point.

"This is all nice and well to know but what do you have anything to do with it? As I understood it you can't influence other immortals? Or just me?"

Fortuna pursued her lips in disapproval but such gestures long since stopped working on him.

"I can influence other immortals, so it's just you and a few others who escape my web. And the point I'm trying to make is that I intend to make up for my debt by allowing you to mess with my web even more than you already have, undoing decades of work and planning, but who cares what I have to go through-"

"Hhhmm."

Fortuna sniffed.

"Right. So, I'm offering you the chance to travel back in time. Due to me tying the fates of Voldemort and you together I can make your soul follow his thread into the past so to speak and you would be able to begin anew there.

Just imagine. All your friends and family safe since all of them aren't even born yet. They will never have to experience such hardships again if you decide to kill Tom Riddle before the wars even start up. Or you could try to change and do whatever it is you want otherwise. You are no longer my responsibility; I have no wish to constantly mend the holes you will leave in my beautiful webs.

What do you say? It is an incredible opportunity for you. You would be a blank slate, allowed to live however you desire. You could even leave and hide yourself away in the muggle world if you so wished. Possibilities, possibilities…"

"So in short I get to travel in the past if I so choose like that time I chose to use the time turner? And I would be stranded in that time too? I mean I would become a person in that time line?"

"Well yes." Fortuna shrugged carelessly. It may not have been the most elaborate summary but time was a subject even she had trouble explaining so how could she expect it from a human not thirty years old. He, at the very least, understood the gist of it.

"Wouldn't that be dangerous? If someone looked into my mind..." Fortuna gave a derisive laugh at that one and elaborated quickly to explain her reaction.

"No, no. Yu don't need to worry about that Harry. As soon as you arrive, magic itself will provide you with a new set of memories for you to use and will repress any memories from your life as Harry Potter behind the same screen all soul memories go. As such no one but you will ever be able to access them, so make sure to sort through your new identity if you choose to go."

Harry rubbed through his hair and thought about it for a minute.

"Wait, I can't just go. I have so many here that I care for. Hell, some might not even be born if I interfere with the past too much!"

Fortuna considered him around the edge of her teacup and finally spoke after taking a sip.

"I'm aware. But how many people would you really miss? How much will you gain or those around you if you chose to leave? Most would still be born. You may be important, but many others are too. I can guarantee the birth of Sirius Black for example unless you decide to take Walburga or Orion Black as a spouse. As well as the birth of your parents. It gets more difficult the farther they get away from your time of rebirth so to speak.

You will loose your connections to them anyway though. You can hope to recreate a relationship to them after starting anew but Lily and James Potter will never be your parents, Sirius Black will never be your godfather, your friends will never be the same to you as you would have lived trice as long as them by then.

They won't remember ever meeting you, they won't necessarily be the people you once knew either. A person is just the sum of their experiences in life. The people you will leave behind will never be same as you knew them when or if you meet again simply because they never knew you, Harry Potter. You affected them, their choices and their lives. They will never again be quite the same without you." Fortuna looked him over and touched his hand gently. "But that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's just different."

"If...Teddy?"

Fortuna nodded sadly. "I don't know if he will be born as Teddy Lupin once again. But I _can_ say with absolute assurance that his soul, his essence so to speak, will be born anew. Just not necessarily as Teddy Lupin. ... If you so desire I can make sure that he is born a wizard and into a happy family as a token to you. With your powers you may be able to find him again."

Harry cleared his throat slightly and nodded once. "Yes, I believe that would be best. Thank you."

"You're welcome. ...So you're going?"

"Yes. It is too good an offer for me as well as for others." _Besides Luna had never steered me wrong before…_

Fortuna smiled. "I'm glad," she placed her cup down and walked over to him. "You will end up as close to his birth as possible but time is no science. It is quite impossible to calculate the exact arrival point and we can't overshoot you, over wise your age won't adapt."

Harry frowned confused. "My age will adapt?"

"Oh, yes of course. If Tom is still a baby you will become one too and so on. It will allow the two of you to bond easier and give you more time to decide on the path you wish to take in life." She looked at him knowingly.

He didn't answer and none was needed. He had already made his choice, after all who wouldn't wish for a second chance at life? This time without expectations or even a past to live up to. A blank slate.

With a start the ground fell away and Harry surrendered to unconsciousness.

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°° Weeel, it was a bit hard to write cause I had to include of boring stuff inside it. Blah, blah, blah. Harry travels back in time to 1935. End of story. God, am I glad I can finally write something more easy going. I tried my best to loosen it up a bit so tell me how it works out! I will also probably post the next chapter sometime close to New Year to celebrate. Otherwise I may have had worked on all of it for some time more before posting. But hey, I'm behind anyway.

Leave some reviews^^(no seriously)


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